The environment includes everything, living component and non-living components. The environment, in itself, can be looked at as being composed of two areas - the first includes everything that humans do not have a part in. This includes animals and plants, the atmosphere and the soil, even microorganisms.

The second key environmental component constitutes anything and everything not specifically human-originated, but also lack clear boundaries while belonging to universal natural resources and physical phenomena. Among these are water, air, climate, energy, magnetism, electric charge and radiation.

The natural environment as we know it contrasts heavily with the built environment, which is everything that’s completely influenced by our own activity. If you take one geographical region, it can only be considered as a natural environment, if the human impact on it is at its minimum.

However, a natural environment and a wilderness are not the same. There are a lot of other factors that must be taken to consideration before an area can be called a natural environment, unlike in the case of a wilderness, which is any area without any human interference.

There are so few regions that can be considered to be natural environments now. Climate changes can account for some of this - climate changes caused by human influence. We have unseasonal rains and floods, melting icecaps and glaciers, and rising temperatures. Natural environmentalist groups play a major role in trying to keep natural environments intact. They try to push through laws and policies that will preserve the environment - keeping what there is safe, and trying to restore what was lost, as well as trying to create altogether new wilderness areas.

There are some common goals that these groups are working towards - reduction of pollution, cleaning up the atmosphere, using recyclable material and actually recycling them, preserving the non-renewable fuel pockets by using renewable energy sources, conserving water, land and air, making sure that habitats of animals are not wiped out and more species are not wiped off the Earth and maintaining the balance that the Earth needs.

With all the pollution that the earth has to face every day, there is every need to be concerned about our natural environment. Industrial plants, huge development projects - everything that is supposed to advance the human race sets the Earth back drastically. Global warming is just one of the many things we have to worry about.

We are the reason the natural environment is facing such danger. It is our responsibility to try and preserve the environment - not just stop damaging it, but fixing the damage that has been done. There is no time to lose - preservation can start right at home.